A three-year varsity player, Smith’s first
love was soccer. He started soccer at age 5 and led some of his many travel
teams in scoring.

Now, football has taken over, and his talents have led to
interest from some Big Ten, Mid-American Conference and Big East
schools.

“It’d be awesome to go play Big Ten or somewhere big, but it’s
really wherever I feelcomfortable at,” said Smith, who is focusing on this
season with the Bucs. “I’m looking to help out my team as much as I can. Our
team goal is to win the Red. We’re pushing for it and busting our butts every
day to win it.

“We’ve got a lot of workhorses on offense and defense, and a
lot of leaders pushing us every day.”

Last year, Grand Haven finished second
in the OK Red at 6-1, and 9-2 overall, with both losses coming to
Rockford.

“Our team goal isn’t to go out and beat Rockford,” said Smith, who
enjoys studying history. “Yeah, we’d love to, but we’re looking to do what we
can as a team. If you lose to Rockford, you can’t call that a non-successful
season.

“We’re trying to integrate being more of a family and had a lock-in
at our high school. Our team goal is to bond together and become a
family.

“This really helps with the bonding and two-a-days. Everyone wants to
go out and give it their all.”

Smith’s favorite memory was picking off a ball
in a big win against Muskegon last season, the school's first victory against the Big
Reds since 1981.

“The first time we beat them in a long time,” Smith said.

High school football preview: Grand Haven's Alec SmithSmith and the Bucanneers went 9-2 and advanced to the second round of the playoffs last season. Smith is the seventh of our 10-player video series previewing the season. Check out The Grand Rapids Press on Aug. 25 for complete print and online season previews.